Calhoun County

Calhoun County sits at a median home price of $132,460, down 3.3% year-over-year, with a perfect affordability score of 100 out of 100. That price point is genuinely low, even by Mississippi standards, which sets up the arithmetic for cash flow in theory. In practice, the cash flow score comes in at zero, and the cap rate and cash-on-cash figures are not calculable from the available data, so investors should not assume this market pencils automatically. The appreciation score of 33 out of 100, combined with the declining price trend, makes the case for appreciation buying weak. Calhoun sits in the 46th percentile nationally across 1,000 counties and ranks 32nd out of 80 Mississippi counties, a middling position that reflects a market neither punishing nor particularly rewarding to own in.

The affordability score of 100 is the single most compelling number here, and it points toward a specific buyer type: a cash-flow-oriented operator who is sourcing properties well below the median, running them lean, and not depending on appreciation to generate returns. At $132,460 median, an investor using a conventional 20% down payment puts up roughly $26,492 and finances the rest at the prevailing 6.85% rate. The stability score of 50 out of 100 suggests neither a locked-in tenant base nor significant churn risk from the data provided, but it also means the investor cannot lean on stability as a margin of safety. Value-add operators looking to manufacture equity through rehab could find raw material at this price floor, but exit liquidity in a county of 13,193 people is a legitimate constraint on that strategy. Appreciation buyers have almost nothing to work with here: a 3.3% price decline over the prior year and a 33 appreciation score signal a market that is contracting, not compounding.

No economic anchors or employer data were provided for Calhoun County, so the local demand drivers for rental occupancy cannot be characterized beyond what the population figure implies. A county of 13,193 residents is small, and small-county rental markets tend to have shallow tenant pools, which concentrates vacancy risk around individual unit turnover. Investors accustomed to metro or suburban markets where a vacant unit fills in three to four weeks should pressure-test that assumption here, because a thinner population base means fewer qualified applicants per listing cycle.

On the carry-cost side, the combined monthly tax and insurance burden runs $145, using a state-average effective property tax rate of 0.81% and an insurance rate of 0.50%, per Tax Foundation 2024 data. The 0.81% rate is flagged as normal, neither a tailwind nor a headwind, and at $1,073 annually on a $132,460 asset it is manageable. Insurance at $662 per year, however, reflects Mississippi's meaningful weather and catastrophic-event exposure, and investors should verify actual quote-level insurance costs for the specific property type and location before underwriting, as the 0.50% state average may understate coverage costs in parts of the state with elevated storm or flood risk. At $145 per month combined, these two line items will consume a real share of gross rent on a single-family home in this price range, which is why getting the rent estimate right before closing matters disproportionately here.

The concentration risk in Calhoun is structural: a population of 13,193 means the rental market is thin, employer diversity is almost certainly limited even if not documented in the data, and a single large employer closing or contracting would ripple through rental demand in a way it would not in a larger county. Declining prices over the past year reinforce that demand is not currently outpacing supply or out-migration. Investors should also verify whether any local ordinances or rural county regulations affect short-term rental permissibility if that use case is part of the thesis, though no specific regulatory data is available here to cite.

Against its neighbors, Calhoun's $132,460 median is mid-range. Pike County comes in at $97,345 with an overall score of 61, which is both cheaper and better-rated, making it the more compelling option for a pure affordability-and-score comparison. Yazoo County at $113,234 also scores 57 while pricing lower than Calhoun. Smith County and Neshoba County price higher at $154,816 and $140,745 respectively, with overall scores of 59 each, suggesting modestly better market quality at a meaningful price premium. Calhoun at a score of 58 sits in the middle of this peer group without a clear distinguishing advantage on price or score relative to Pike and Yazoo. An investor should choose Calhoun over these neighbors primarily if specific deal-level pricing or local knowledge produces acquisition opportunities below the $132,460 median, or if geographic proximity, property management relationships, or existing portfolio concentration in the area creates a practical operational edge that the county-level data does not capture.